[Prognostic significance of pleural/pericardial effusion and treatment optimization of PMBL].

The optimal treatment strategy for primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBL) remains unknown. We retrospectively analyzed 345 patients with newly diagnosed PMBL to identify prognostic factors and optimal treatments. Focusing on patients treated with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisolone, and rituximab (R-CHOP) (N=187), a higher International Prognostic Index (IPI) and the presence of pleural or pericardial effusion were identified as adverse prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) in patients treated with R-CHOP without consolidative radiation therapy (RT) [IPI: hazard ratio (HR), 4.23; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.48-12.13; P=0.007; effusion: HR, 4.93; 95% CI, 1.37-17.69; P=0.015]. Combined with IPI and the presence of pleural or pericardial effusion for the stratification of patients treated with R-CHOP without RT, those with lower IPI and the absence of effusion comprised approximately onehalf of these patients and could be identified as curable [OS and progression free survival (PFS) at 4 years, 95% and 87%, respectively)] Taken together, our simple indicators of IPI and the presence of effusion could stratify patients with PMBL and thereby facilitate treatment selection.